Professor blasts China's 'Nazi tactics'

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A professor at one of China's top universities has ferociously attacked China's state propaganda department, saying it uses Nazi tactics and has been covering up famines, corruption and disease for more than 50 years.

In what may be a sign of a power struggle in the Communist Party, the author, Beijing University journalism professor Jiao Guobiao, said he was "encouraged by elders" to launch the tirade. His target is an organisation controlled by allies of former president Jiang Zemin, who is said to have used his position as head of the military to block moves towards democracy and media freedom.

The essay has been banned in the media, but it can be seen on the internet, where it has become a focus of the disappointment felt by many who had hoped the new leadership of President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao would loosen the gag on free speech.

Mr Jiao called for the abolition of the state's propaganda machinery, which he said was guilty of shielding corrupt officials and whitewashing the country's darkest moments.

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"The character of its work is the complete opposite of that of a modern civilisation," he wrote. "Where else can you find propaganda departments? Not in the US, the UK or Europe. But you did find them in Nazi Germany, where Goebbels said 'a lie that is repeated 1000 times becomes the truth'."

Ignoring the caution that usually typifies public criticism of state institutions in China, Mr Jiao dished out the sort of vitriol for which the propaganda department was once famous.

"Their censorship orders are totally groundless, absolutely arbitrary, at odds with the basic standards of civilisation, and as counter to scientific common sense as witches and wizardry," he wrote. "They take money from the parties referred to in reports. They distort the media's sense of right and wrong and justice. They are killing the constitution."

He accused the department of covering up the starvation of millions in the famines of 1962 and of hiding the SARS epidemic. In one case, he said, it took money to fix a program that was due to appear on television about Ningbo City.

In the past, outspoken critics have been arrested and jailed. But Mr Jiao said he could not remain silent about the propaganda department. "The worst thing that could happen to me is death," he wrote. "But I cannot stand seeing the Communist Party develop in this way."

Chinese journalists say the propaganda department issues a list of stories that must not be reported. According to the Secret China website, the list includes bans on stories on university graduates' poor job prospects, the business activities of government officials in Anhui Province and sales of state-owned assets. Similar bans have been placed on book publications, including anything to do with one-night stands and extra-marital affairs.

• An outspoken Hong Kong-based Roman Catholic bishop has paid an historic visit to his native Shanghai at the invitation of Chinese authorities.

Bishop Joseph Zen became the first head of Hong Kong's Catholic Church to visit China since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Last week's trip, announced yesterday, was believed to have been part of moves by Beijing to quell mounting criticism after it dashed hopes for the introduction of universal suffrage in Hong Kong by 2008.